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Ufology’s Jersey Shore Ufology’s Jersey Shore by Adam Gorightly There’s an alarming trend in Ufology nowadays that seems to be pushing the entire field toward complete irrelevancy. Namely, a band of chest pumping hooligans -- on varying sides of ufological issues -- that incessantly, and tediously, sling mountains of mud at one another through internet forums, blogs, podcasts and social media networks; a legion of saber rattlers who seem more interested in making a name for themselves, than actually engaging in meaningful discourse, and so the signal-to-noise ratio has become a deafening roar that makes the more sober among us want to take a step back, and try to clear our heads of all the clamor and clutter. I‘ve termed this new breed “Ufology’s Jersey Shore”, a juvenile gaggle in competition with one another to see who can make the most noise and insult each other the loudest. On and on, they go…But at the end of the day, does anyone really care? Does all this braying and bombast really help to “clean up ufology”? Or, playing field has encouraged, in many cases, the ABOUT in reality, simply drag the entire field deeper lowest common denominator to emerge and into a quagmire of mediocrity informed by delude themselves of their own significance and ADAM GORIGHTLY: reality TV? thus anoint themselves as self appointed Sadly, with the advent of the internet, authorities on a subject that has been A self-described 'crackpot historian,' for Ufology has become less about pondering the confounding mankind for generations. two decades Adam Gorightly's articles have big UFO questions, than it is about promoting To adopt a rigid stance on either side of appeared in nearly every 'zine, underground one’s own hobby horse; where it’s more any particular issue in Ufology (whether it be magazine, counter-cultural publication, and important to be right, than it is to open one’s from a skeptical standpoint or that of the wide conspiratorial website imaginable. Bringing a mind and examine alternate viewpoints and eyed believer) limits one’s intellectual growth mischievous sense of Prankster-Discordianism perhaps learn something and grow. and places either position in a yes/no- to the zany world of fringe culture, once And, by god, if someone offers an right/wrong-push/pull confrontational mode. Gorightly connects his dots, readers are plunged opinion that’s in opposition to yours, then it’s Thus the discourse devolves to narrow sighted into alternative universes which forever alter time to take up arms against the tyrants, and go simplicity and no-win arguments ensue, where their view of 'reality.' kick some serious ass by posting adolescent the opposing parties become so consumed with His landmark work, The Shadow Over diatribes to internet forums to show what a their own perception of the truth and ultimate Santa Susana: Black Magic, Mind Control and tough guy you are, and how the truth is on your rightness in the matter, that they cease the Manson Family Mythos is by far the best side, and how you will scorch the earth and considering other possibilities and respecting ever compiled on the Tate-Labianca murders. ultimately prevail! Once again, nobody cares -- one another’s viewpoints. Thereafter the Far from being portrayed as prosecutor Vincent you might as well be arguing about who’s the discourse dissolves into a no holds barred fight Bugliosi's caricatured bogeyman, Gorightly best WWF wrestler, or how many angels you to the finish, and yet another fruitless internet paints a broader picture of Manson in relation to can fit on the head of a needle, because the flame war where meaningful discussion ends Hollywood porn films, Anton LaVey's louder the volume gets turned up, the more apt and sophomoric disrespect and bad decorum run Satanism, Scientology and the Process Church, we are to tune it all out, the good with the bad, rampant. Welcome to Ufology’s Jersey Shore! MK-ULTRA, designer drugs, and the true the alien baby with the bathwater, all down the The internet, since its inception, has Beatles-Helter Skelter story. drain. bred this type of behavior, which is not to An even wilder ride (if that's possible) The intent of all this saber rattling, it suggest that there’s something inherently wrong can be found in The Prankster and the seems, is for Ufology’s Jersey Shore to make a about producing a podcast, blog or tweeting Conspiracy which examines the remarkable life name for themselves, to become a UFO sweet nothings to your heart’s content. This of Kerry Thornley-a 1960s Zen radical chaos- personality, without actually having anything exploration of cyberspace has been a boon for a creator who was quite realistically being meaningful to impart, much like Snooki lot of new, fresh voices to emerge, presenting a groomed as a Lee Harvey Oswald 'patsy-double' swapping spit and shaking her ass every forum where none previously existed; a shifting before the Kennedy assassination. Everyone opportunity she gets for the simple reason of paradigm where new forms of media are from Ken Kesey, Robert Anton Wilson, and Jim creating a buzz to keep her name “out there.” replacing the old. With that being said, it has Garrison make appearances during this no- Of course, the field has always been likewise been a decided detriment to the level of holds barred adventure. about UFO personalities, from Kenneth Arnold intelligent discourse existing in Ufology Other intriguing releases include Death and George Adamski to Whitley Strieber, Bud nowadays where there seems to be this constant Cults; the hipster biography, James Shelby Hopkins and everyone else in between. But in need for one-upmanship that at its best is Downard's Mystical War; and The Beast of the past, one became a Ufologist, or UFO laughable, and at its worse, sadly pathetic. Adam Gorightly: Collected Rantings. In the personality, based on some noteworthy In summation, let it be duly noted that latter, he describes the time when Doc Ellis of contribution. In others words, they earned the I’ve named no names here. If the shoe fits, wear the Pittsburgh Pirates dropped LSD and pitched lofty title (he says, with tongue firmly planted in it, as they say. Or better yet, discard that smelly, a no-hitter; and how J.D. Salinger's Catcher in cheek!) of Ufologist, or UFO researcher, old footwear and try on something more the Rye has been used as a control mechanism investigator, whatever, by actually having fashionable. And less pompous. to trigger mind-numbed Manchurian accomplished something of merit. But in this Evolve. Candidates. Other subjects include Stanley era of never ending podcasts, blogs, tweets and Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, the Disneyland assorted forms of internet democracy, a level *~* The End *~* Dead, and Hitler Was a Good American. []